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Crepes?... SUZETTE!!!

I am forever indebted to you mlx.... Amazing.

it's not. I subscribe to that user. He posts a ton of ephemera that's in the public domain...

Stay classy, San Diego.

First, I really want to apologize to anyone who was offended by my posting the video (well, except theo, who was kind of a dick about it). That certainly wasn't my intent, and had I read this thread before posting, I assure you I wouldn't have done it.

While I've been viewing and voting here for some time, this is only the second time I've attempted posting (first was a dupe), and that's the currency that rightfully determines value and authority on the site. I wholly understand that all y'all stars and diamonds and esp. dag say what goes, and I'm eager to abide. This site is important to me for a number of reasons, and I would never want to do anything to jeopardize or compromise it in any way.

I posted the video because I believe it's of significant historical importance. I thought, like the Zapruder film, that outweighed the nature of the content.

I believe the Sadaam video is important both for the event that it depicts and as an artifact itself, as it seems probable it was sanctioned by the authorities as a way to get the imagery out to the Iraq (and U.S.) populace without being responsible for airing 'officially sanctioned' footage of a morally questionable nature.

Also, as ren mentioned in the discussion about promoting the ambushed convoy in Iraq footage, "[s]houldn't people see the deaths they are partly responsible for?" I don't believe in forcing anyone to watch anything, but I do believe strongly in making information, especially primary source material of historically significant events, freely available.

That aside, I think farhad makes compelling arguments for the greater historical significance of the Kennedy assassination to the deciders on the site, and the most salient point regarding the Zapruder footage itself seems to be that it carries information pertaining to the still disputed nature of the event, which doesn't immediately seem to be the case with the Sadaam video. Both reasons seem completely sound and more than enough to make the distinction.

But bottom line, this distinction, while appreciated and arguably important, is ultimately unnecessary. The site can and does fully function on a one-off, "I-know-it-when-I-see-it" basis, and while the more concrete codification of the policies will make issues like this more clearcut for submitters in the future (as will my better keeping up with Sift Talk), they aren't completely necessary given the filters in place, and may (unnecessarily?) preclude important footage like Zapruder's in the future.

Just trying to contribute to the discussion. Seeing as I still haven't been able to contribute a video....

My apologies, dag, for crossing that line. I didn't think this necessarily qualified as 'snuff', but had I read the 'out there' thread in sift talk, I wouldn't have done it. I at least hope it spurs some conversation as to the place of footage like this, while we hash out where old media/government/authority controls end and transparency/accountability/'information being free' begins. (Which is not at all to say I think its place is necessarily here. Your site, your rules, no problem. Apologies again for not being clear before I posted it.)

Jeepers, theo, what happened to coming over and explaining why?

I'm curious, theo, whose dignity and tact are you striving to preserve? I see this clip as an important historic document that serves in its starkness to prompt discussion on state sanctioned murder. Granted, it's no Shannon-Elizabeth-gets-raped-by-a-snowman, but I feel it has its place here.

> But seeing as how Fox News and the others have been running it non-stop,
> it's more of an example of extremely bad taste.

It doesn't make sense to me, allowing Fox News to be your arbiter of what is snuff vs. bad taste. But if so:

The cell phone video of the execution, taken from in front of the gallows, emerged after 4 p.m. EST. The Al-Jazeera satellite network ran an abridged version that was picked up in the United States by Fox News Channel.

Doug Llewellen of the original People's Court at the end with the Sumo guy. Awesome.

I'm a noob too, otherwise it'd have my vote. Never really got into the Dresden Dolls, but that kicked some serious ass.

REALLY????!
(it was the second 'really' that really killed me...)